Sand Castles
by adagioredshift
Summary: As children, they built castles upon the beach together. One side never stood without the other, just as they never stood alone. They had promised to always be together, but the toll of time had inflicted them both. SasuNaru. Oneshot.


This idea's been festering in my brain for a while. My friend and the girl he roleplayed with did a storyline like this and I branched a story off of it.

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_Sunset cast a dim ochre color over Konoha's tall towers. The villagers of the sleepy city were beginning to dissapear for the oncoming night, mothers calling the cranky children inside and ANBU pacing the dusty streets on one last patrol. Even as it wound down, energy surged through the streets that burst with life for one last time before dissapearing for the night.  
But time never touched the shores of Konoha beach.  
The orange tinted waves splashed calmly over its golden sand at the same tempo it always had, appearing the same through each generation no matter what the situation. It froze itself, and all who journeyed there for peace of mind._

Along the edge of a shore sat a small child, his build placing him no more than 7 years old. He was wholefully immersed in the piles of sand next to him, piling fistfulls onto each other, stoically building the castle's walls in an artistic fashion.  
Pushing back his raven colored bangs, the pale child carved detail into the sand construction, watching waves lap dangerously close to his creation before shying away. It amused him so that the faintest trace of a smile upturned his thin lips.

"That looks cool."

He didn't look up to see who'd spoken. The high pitched, innocent voice could only belong to one person. Frustrated, the raven haired boy spat into the excess sand off to his side. He felt comforted by that voice...and it disturbed him.

"Can I help?"

His onyx eyes shot up into the cerulean gaze of a certain blond haired boy. His smile was unnaturally warm, radiating more welcoming feelings than he'd ever felt before. Even as his body was marred with bruises and cuts, a mark he'd forever wear from the village's cruelty, his smile had made him somehow...beautiful.  
He knew that boy anywhere. It was the Uzumaki kid...the orphan who always yelled about becoming something.  
People like that annoyed the raven. So...confident and clueless. They'd never know heartbreak if it bit them in the ass.

"Look, I don't care. Help if you want."

Naruto laughed and kneeled on the opposite side of the raven, building up the castle to where his stood. His fingers were surprisingly dexterous, and even Sasuke had to take a moment and watch the boy craft the sand sculpture.

The two worked in silence, building up the castle until darkness had swallowed the sun whole, and both boys squinted with exhaustion.  
Afterwards, they stood side by side, admiring their creation together.

Sasuke smiled. His castles were lovely. He'd been building them on the shores for years, and had nearly perfected every detail to the point of a masterpiece.  
Or perhaps it would have been, but the raven could never bring himself to complete the other side. From one angle, the intricacy was breathtaking, but the further you went, the more sand lost its luster and shrunk into a formless pile with its brothers.

But Naruto had...completed it. His hands sculpting the other side along Sasuke's, and for the first time in years, the boy had completed something.

"Heh...it looks...nice."

The blond fox laughed and watched Sasuke draw closer to the castle, smile fading as the raven kicked the creation to be swallowed by the sea.

"Sasuke!! What the hell!"  
"What's the big deal? We'll just make another one tomorrow night."

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto could swore he spotted a smile peeking out from the black bangs, evoking a smile of his own. Sasuke grabbed the blond's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Only if I can help you every night. I see you making these all alone."  
"It's a promise."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The sound of glass breaking awoke Naruto with a start. Rubbing his aching eyelids, the blond shakily stood up and walked toward the sound of the disturbance. Wind whipped through his house, let rampant by the shards of glass that once held a window together. Shivering, Naruto searched through the house, ignoring flakes of snow that fell with increasing intensity onto the floor. He pulled out several boards and got to work shutting the window in for the night.

Eyes aching and skin burning with fever, the blond found it increasingly difficult to stop the cold winter air from licking his face. While at first it was soothing, the tempurature quickly got to the point where it began to burn even his fevered skin. His increasing frustration numbed his fingers all the more, and by the time he was finished, Naruto collapsed to the floor. Shards of glass dug into his exposed legs, but he ignored them. It was a trivial injury after all, Kyuubi had already begun to heal the bleeding pools.

Naruto slumped against the boarded window, pulling himself up from the floor and stepping to the couch. Silently he pulled the glass from his legs and knees, his lips pursed together tightly. He refused to open them, for fear of a sob he'd been holding back for who knows how long.  
"Some promises you just can't keep...huh Naruto?"

Laughing to himself, the blond let a single tear run down his cheek. It felt cool against his heated skin.  
It had been a long time since those innocent days like the one he'd dreamed about. A long time since he'd visited that beach since then..

Sighing, Naruto stood up and made his way to the door, stepping out into the snow laden pathway. It felt like heaven against his fevered skin, but soon turned hostile. Nevertheless, he kepy dragging himself foward until he came upon a small bench, so deeply buried in the snowstorm that he almost missed it. The blond rushed towards it and dumped the snow enough to situate his small body onto the wooden seat.

For what seemed like hours he sat and let himself get beaten and whipped by snow, staring off into nothing. His eyes were dull and his stare empty, but he watched that nothing with a fufillment of purpose, as if he expected the ground to spawn something amazing.  
That was when a light clicked in his brain, and Naruto slid out from the seat and kneeled into the deep pile of snow.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

He shouldn't have come. He knew he shouldn't have come. Out of all the foolish descisions, he had to mark it as the most brash and unpredictable. But still Sasuke stood outside the wooden Konoha gates, staring at their massive towering authority.  
He had to admit, they were a sight to marvel.

Scoffing, the raven scaled the tall boundaries and made his way inside, walking amongst the snowy streets. They remained untouched by footprints, and contained that allure that drew him to mar their perfect surface with his tainted footprints.

But that wasn't why he was here. What in hell _had_ drawn him to the village he'd defected from so long ago? Was there nothing of further purpose here?

Sasuke stared off into the white maze, parting his lips. Particles of snow flew into his mouth, dampening the dry lips and giving him enough power to whisper so low, even he could not hear.  
"Naruto."

He continued along the snowy streets, until a slight disturbance hit his periphreal. Something not among the dark blue and white of the city. Walking up to the figure silently, the blood rushed from Sasuke's face, turning him a color not unlike the snow itself.  
It was Naruto. His head was turned toward the snow, but even from the distance he was at, Sasuke could tell the blond was crying.  
His hands were buried in the snow, crafting something odd. The white structure spiraled off in intricate directions, and it's beauty caused him to marvel at it for a moment.

But he refused to create the other side. Even as the structiure swayed unsteadily, Naruto's hands refused to touch the pile of snow that was on its opposite.  
For a moment Sasuke stared, perplexed as to why he'd leave something so crucial go unfinished. Then he realized. The hands that belonged to that side, that could only craft the matching pieces, they were his alone.  
That was why the castle remained untouched.

Silently, he came closer to the other side of the snow sculpture. His hands moved silently with Naruto's to create and finish the castle, not daring to lift his head and look into the eyes that sobbed so quietly. With each tear droplet that melted the snow, Sasuke felt as if someone had been stabbing his heart with his own chidori.

Once finished, Naruto leaned back and stared, his eyes widening in shock at the sight of his old comrade. A victim to numerous hallucinations, Naruto moved a trembling hand foward to touch the raven's cheek. It was cold, and freezing against his own skin. Sasuke flinched at the touch and pulled away, his own eyes meeting with Naruto's.  
He paled at the sight of the blond. Naruto was bone thin, his eyes only dimly sparked, and his face and hands burned from the fever. Despite all his suffering however, Naruto could only pull his lips back and smile.

"It's...it's you Sasuke...it's you. You came back...for the castle. You promised..."

Sasuke silenced his blond friend by pulling him against his chest. Ignoring the feeling of Naruto's feverish skin burning against his own, the raven hugged him tightly, letting the tears escape from the blond and drip down his bare skin.  
It was a small price to pay to comfort the one he had so badly wounded.  
Quietly he petted Naruto's blond locks, wincing at each painful sob that tore through the blond's body. He was so stupid. So cruelly stupid.  
Naruto was everything to him. And he had the gall to leave such a precious treasure all alone to die.  
He had brought him back, and in return Sasuke had tossed him out like a doll.

"Do you love the castle Sasuke?"

Confused, Sasuke stared at the blond, watching the vivid sparkle slowly come to life in his eyes again. Something that no one had ever been able to do. Their stunning beauty took him aback for a moment, watching Naruto with his own painful gaze.

"No Naruto.."  
Sasuke took Naruto's hands in his own and pressed his lips against them, placing tiny kisses all over the heated skin.  
"I love these hands...I love these hands that crafted the castle. These hands that kept building no matter how bruised or bloody, that was always there to give a fist or a kind grasp. I love these arms that extended themselves wide open for me, even after I'd ripped them apart.."  
Trailing kisses up Naruto's arms, Sasuke brought himself to the blond's shoulder and gently nibbled at the skin. In response, the blond let out a small whimper, his knees buckling under his weight.  
"I love this gorgeous face that smiled so warmly, even years ago when I was overcome with bitterness and pain. I love the legs that carried you for years, even if they were broken. I love the heart that beats, the lungs that breathe, the eyes that see and the ears that hear."

Gently, he lifted Naruto into his arms, letting the blond rest his tired head upon Sasuke's chest. He silently carried the blond back toward his home, earning a terrified gasp from Naruto.

"S-sasuke no! You can't take me back there!!"  
"Why?"  
"You'll leave me...I love you Sasuke! I love you..you can't...you can't.."  
Sobbing harder then ever before, Naruto stared into the raven's eyes with pure desperate fear. He couldn't fight Sasuke..not now. Even if he tried, his heart could never take it.

"Naruto....I can't stay."  
"I'll run away with you!! Even if you try and lose me I'll follow you!"

Sighing, the raven lowered Naruto onto his feet. He placed a gentle kiss on the blond's lips, stroking back the soft blond locks that whipped around his face.  
"Naruto...if I come back...you will never see me again. I am a traitor. If you leave, you'll be one too. And your dream will never come true. So I want you to do this: Become a strong Hokage. Be the best there ever was, and welcome me back with open arms. When I see your beautiful face atop that stone mountain, I will return for you."  
"Do...do you promise?"

Sasuke scooped Naruto back into his arms and looked down one final time at those blue eyes.  
"I came back for the castle...I will come back for you."

Naruto wasn't sure at what point he'd drifted to sleep after that.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When he awoke, sunlight peeked in through the wooden boards covering his window. His body still shivered from fever, and his heart sank as if the entire feat had been a dream. Sitting up, something dropped from his forehead that induced a yelp, and peering down at it, Naruto saw that it'd been a damp, cool cloth that sitting on top of him. He stared at it curiously for another moment before something else caught his eye. In the corner of his bed sat a single black rose, a card attached to its fragile stem. Only one word was written on the card, in the most elegant and refined kanji he could ever see.  
A broad smile came across his face at the sight of the card and its simple word.

'Remember.'

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Outside, villagers gathered around the bench, pointing with awe and admiration at the fragile snow statue, shimmering like glass with the sun's rays behind it. But perhaps the most amazing thing about the castle was in the center, a heart shaped hole sat, sturdy enough to keep the rest of the structure up, and defined enough so that from far away, it would leave an imprint at the quickest glance.

It stood proudly long after winter had ended and even then it melted slowly. As the last few bits of it faded into puddles one solemn night, Naruto stood and watched it fall and pool around his feet. He smiled softly and closed his eyes in content.  
For that time...he had a hand beside him to hold.

**The End.**

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Like it? Love it? Hate it? Review!!


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